Friday, August 03, 2012

Bread and Circuses in London

FEW OF US have been able to
afford a seat at the London Olympics and those who do and then manage to
struggle through the queues face another fleecing from the corporate caterers,
determined to make the most of the monopolies they’ve paid for in the grounds.

The
opening ceremony was certainly an entertaining tableau of history which made a
passing nod to working people in a romp that spanned the centuries. Whether
this makes the year’s sporting spectacular the “People’s Olympics” is another
matter.

The
Soviet Spartakiads and the great sporting festivals of the old people’s
democracies in eastern Europe were genuine People’s Olympics with sporting
champions and mass games drawn from the factories, farms and offices of
socialism. But those days are sadly long gone except in China
and Democratic Korea.

Today we can
still admire the efforts of the British teams competing against the finest
athletes in the world and we can also take some comfort in watching the
achievements of the sportsmen and sportswomen from People’s China
and the other people’s democracies this week. China has predictably taken an
early lead in the medals stakes but even Democratic Korea has bagged three gold
medals so far – a remarkable achievement
for the land of Juché that demonstrates the DPR Korea’s long-standing
commitment to health and sport under socialism.

A
Zionist attempt to politicise the Games, by lobbying for a minute’s silence at
the opening ceremony to honour the Israeli athletes killed during a Palestinian
Black September attack at the Munich Olympics in 1972, was rejected as
inappropriate by the International Olympic Committee. This was also the view of
Prime Minister, David Cameron and Tory London Mayor Boris Johnson.

Cameron,
who attended a commemorative event for the Israeli athletes at the Guildhall,
said while it was important to remember what happened in 1972 planned memorial
events were the proper way to do that. This was echoed by the head of the
Palestinian Olympic Committee that is fielding four athletes in the London
Games. Jibril Rajoub said: "Sport is a bridge for love, unification and
for spreading peace among the nations. It must not be a cause for divisiveness and
for the spreading of racism.”

That’s
certainly the modern Olympic ideal that claims to inherit the tradition of the
Greco-Roman Olympiads. Whether it was true then, in an age when slavery was the
considered the norm and when the “games”, at least in Roman days, had a
different meaning in the Colosseum, is a matter of opinion.

How
true it is today is also debatable. At least the games were free in Roman times
along with the food scattered amongst the crowd to keep them happy. The Romans
called it “bread and circuses” and they were sponsored by the Roman elite as a
way of distracting the slaves and the poor from their woes.

These days it’s the exact opposite. Nothing is
free and the poor are virtually excluded by cost from all the live events.
Seats cost an arm and a leg and the spectators pay through the nose for any
food or drink available at the stadiums.

The Olympic
ideal may still be true for many of the athletes and the millions who watch the
events on TV in Britain
and the rest of the world. But today there is little doubt that the Olympiad is
seen as nothing more than a cash cow and a global trade fair by corporate
business and the politicians who serve them.